He’s acting weird

So I’ve had a male betta for about 2 years. I have a 5 gallon tank with a heater and filter. Idk what kind of filter, as it came with the tank. The tank is usually at about 77 degrees Fahrenheit. His water evaporates quickly so I add about 3/4 of a gallon every few days. I have a good reason but his tank water got pretty bad and he did get fin rot and lost some tail. I took him out and put him in a 2 gallon tank to treat him twice actually and he felt way better after the treatments. I used furan-2 for that. It’s like he gets really happy to be back in his 5 gallon tank but after a couple weeks he just sits at the bottom. I tried changing water and that helped. After a few days, same thing...down at the bottom. I checked the water parameters and the ph was a bit high (sorry, no numbers) so I used some ph down. Haven’t checked it since. That was 2 days ago. I just got a master water kit so I’m going to try to figure that out and get you numbers. Since the ph down he’s been hiding in his log or up on his leaf. He will be excited to eat and say hI if you come to the tank and then go hide in his log again. Just during the day he sits on his leaf and he’s a bit wobbly. He will swim around for a few seconds like he’s crazy and super fast. He jerks a bit as well. It’s odd. Is he constipated? He’s had that issue before. Can he get parasites from ghost shrimp? That’s all we’ve had in the tank for a long time. They passed. His fin is clamped. He will go sit on the heater for a minute and then go to his leaf. He eats HikarI bio gold baby pellets. He also gets done daphnia and freeze dried blood worms. He has one day he doesn't get food. These are the best photos I can get right now. Sorry.

 

It’s hard on fish when you change Ph with buffers as they are never really stable Ph’s. Better to acclimate him to your water. You say you add water to the tank. Do you do this more often than regular water changes... real water changes are the best way to keep fish healthy and water parameters where you want them. Old tank syndrome generally is because water changes are not being done enough and after time that can drastically affect your ph.

 

It’s hard on fish when you change Ph with buffers as they are never really stable Ph’s. Better to acclimate him to your water. You say you add water to the tank. Do you do this more often than regular water changes... real water changes are the best way to keep fish healthy and water parameters where you want them. Old tank syndrome generally is because water changes are not being done enough and after time that can drastically affect your ph.

Thank you so much. I have come to this realization that I need to be more diligent in water changes. I was taking photos for this post and I found an odd yellow spot near his gills. Any help would be great. It's never been there before. Is there something wrong with him? Is he just changing colors? Thanks! Oh and I did the master test kit and the pH is high. Again. I put some pH down in...I saw this too late to not put it in...and I'll do a partial water change.

 

What are your values? Don't just dump in pH down, you're just stripping out KH, then pH will drop like a rock. Your best to do it gradually with partial water changes.

 

Simonsayz37 How high is the ph with the master test kit? Have you checked the ph of your tap water as well, would be good to know what they both are. Sorry I’m not a Betta person, there are many here who will most certainly help. CrispiI Salem

 

What are your values? Don't just dump in pH down, you're just stripping out KH, then pH will drop like a rock. Your best to do it gradually with partial water changes.

So I tried that. It didn't work at all. Not even a little. My ph is 7.8, ammonia is.25, nitrate is 20 and nitrite is 0. Temp is 77.6. I have not tested my tap water. The fish is basically hiding in his log all day except when eating or if someone goes to the front of the tank. (He's on my bedside table so I watch him from the side.) So the ammonia worries me. Isn't that supposed to be at zero? Obviously the pH worries me like crazy. Can stress guard cause any of this? I've been doing water changes. I have a 5 gallon tank and do about 2 gallon water change. One thing I should maybe mention is his water does evaporate quite quickly. Every three days or less in the dry winter months I have to add about a gallon of water. Do I need to do a filter change? I've had this fish for about two years and never had anything like this happen before. On a side note, he is rubbing up against things according to my bf. He does have a couple of white spots on his head but he does injure himself on something on occasion so I thought that's what they were. I've seen ick at the fish store I work at so it's not that. He also has a big yellow spot on his gill. It seems to have gotten better a bit but the underside of his chin? seems to have faded in color. I'm hoping this is all because of this crazy ph business. Can I do a full water change?

 

So I tried that. It didn't work at all. Not even a little. My ph is 7.8, ammonia is.25, nitrate is 20 and nitrite is 0. Temp is 77.6. I have not tested my tap water. The fish is basically hiding in his log all day except when eating or if someone goes to the front of the tank. (He's on my bedside table so I watch him from the side.) So the ammonia worries me. Isn't that supposed to be at zero? Obviously the pH worries me like crazy. Can stress guard cause any of this? I've been doing water changes. I have a 5 gallon tank and do about 2 gallon water change. One thing I should maybe mention is his water does evaporate quite quickly. Every three days or less in the dry winter months I have to add about a gallon of water. Do I need to do a filter change? I've had this fish for about two years and never had anything like this happen before. On a side note, he is rubbing up against things according to my bf. He does have a couple of white spots on his head but he does injure himself on something on occasion so I thought that's what they were. I've seen ick at the fish store I work at so it's not that. He also has a big yellow spot on his gill. It seems to have gotten better a bit but the underside of his chin? seems to have faded in color. I'm hoping this is all because of this crazy ph business. Can I do a full water change?

Honestly, bettas don’t really give a second though to pH. They really don’t. I literally bred mine in a pH that was higher than 8. So, just put that out of your mind - ignore the pH. I’m not sure about all the spots you mention - I personally don’t see anything wrong in the pictures - but I’d recommend starting just 25-50% daily water changes. An influx of new water will likely help him heal, and will slowly remove anything bad out of the water, like the ammonia you’re seeing (assume you’re doing a fish in cycle). Leave the filter, that’s where your good bacteria is growing. To slow down evaporation, you can cover the tank (or any holes in the lid, if you have a lid) with Saran Wrap. If you fold the corners of the tape under, it makes it easy to lift up and replace, but will pretty much stop the evaporation.

 

I have 8 happy active bettas living in Ph of 8.0 and really hard water. Your ph is fine. I’m worried about the ammonia you tested for, it looks like your tank is in a minI cycle or something. That ammonia might be the culprit, up your water changes until your tank cycles again.
I love what your feeding him, the variety is so good for bettas.
The gold dot is probably a shiny scale, I’ve a few bettas with shiny scales right there.

 

You are fretting to much, your water parameters are quite alright including the Ph. It’s not uncommon for the master test kit ammonia to read .25. My own tanks always read .25 and my fish are flourishing and happy. As mentioned by others keep up good aquarium basics... water changes. You do need a lid or canopy as just adding water over time without real water changes is going to change the Ph. Glass stores will cut 1/4” leaving just enough space for your heater and fiilter and an opening at front to feed. I add an inch on the ends to over hang making the glass easy to pick up.

 

You are fretting to much, your water parameters are quite alright including the Ph. It’s not uncommon for the master test kit ammonia to read .25. My own tanks always read .25 and my fish are flourishing and happy. As mentioned by others keep up good aquarium basics... water changes. You do need a lid or canopy as just adding water over time without real water changes is going to change the Ph. Glass stores will cut 1/4” leaving just enough space for your heater and fiilter and an opening at front to feed. I add an inch on the ends to over hang making the glass easy to pick up.

Thank you. I am still worried as he is not swimming around as much. I have been doing 50% water changes and he is happy and feels better for like 10 minutes and swims all happy and then he goes to his leaf. Then to his log. He just lays down. He lays in the corner on the rocks. Is he lonely? His shrimp tank mates are dead. Should I get new ghost shrimp to entertain him? He was mean to the old ones. He would guard their food so they had to eat at night. The fish has lost color on his chin. It seems to be getting whiter. He just seems depressed. I have not been able to do a third water test. I've been doing 50% water changes daily. He's just been so weird. Kinda twitchy? I have had new ghost shrimp within the last three months maybe? They died. (Oops!) but they were old when I got them and super duper mean to him grabbing onto his tail fin and riding him around the tank. I think that gave him fin rot somehow but we got over that. Can the shrimp give him a parasite? This is just not like him. I've had him about two years now. Is he like an old man, not doing much anymore, even swimming around? Sorry for all the questions. I'm desperate to figure out what's wrong with him...if anything.